Gledhow resident, Dumisani Khuzwayo (39), was immeasurably thankful to KwaDukuza Private Hospital’s (KPH) specialists and nursing staff for saving his life after a successful lung resection.
Khuzwayo, who was coughing up blood was admitted to KPH last month on Monday, 6 August. His condition was a result of a previous lung infection that caused the blood vessels in his lungs to rupture. Khuzwayo was in the interim being treated by Dr Strinivasen Gounden and Dr Dhiren Sadhabiriss, resident specialist physicians at KPH, before being referred to specialist cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Sherwin Ramghulam. Cardiothoracic surgery is the field of medicine involved in surgical treatment of organs inside the thorax —generally treatment of conditions of the heart and lungs.
Khuzwayo’s condition was life-threatening at the time and Dr Ramghulam had to perform surgery on the patient on Friday, 10 August. Dr Ramghulam and the KPH theatre team spent approximately 5 hours in the operating theatre with the patient. Dr Ramghulam removed Khuzwayo’s left lung which was extremely compromised by the preceding lung infection.
“This type of operation is common due to the high number of tuberculosis cases in KZN. The greatest concern during the surgery is excessive bleeding during the operation. Due to Khuzwayo’s previous lung infection, the lung had become stuck to the chest wall and major vessels. This operation will prevent any further coughing up of blood”, said Dr Ramghulam.
Khuzwayo said; “I am very grateful to Dr Ramghulam who performed surgery on me, as well as Dr Gounden and Dr Sadhabiriss for treating me daily. In my month-long stay at KPH, I was able to find another family in all the nursing staff and the doctors. I want to thank the doctors and the hospital for saving my life”.
“KPH has now undertaken more than 30 thoracic cases in the last 2 months with excellent outcomes. The theatre and ICU staff have been trained to handle all thoracic surgical cases. I enjoyed working with the efficient and dedicated theatre staff, it was with their help that this case was a success”, said Dr Ramghulam.
KPH offers 24-hour emergency services, cardio thoracic surgery, E.N.T, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, physicians, psychiatry, surgeons and urology.